Elder Grace: The Nobility of Aging

by Chester Higgins, Jr.

Elder Grace is a love song to the nobility of aging, with a personal foreword from Maya Angelou. This powerful book based on the traveling photographic exhibition of the same name features eighty personal portraits of African American elders and their thoughts about the experience of aging.

The process of aging for some elder people can translate into a mysterious reservoir of wisdom - people who miraculously blossom, seasoned by years of living. Through the lens of his camera, Chester Higgins Jr. takes a look at eighty thriving African-American men and women who found beauty within themselves and are experiencing aging with energy, wit, and grace. Alongside each portrait are comments from the subjects that express a collective wisdom about life and aging. As our population grows older and begins to sift through and reflect upon life experiences, the real-life inspiring models of elderhood in Elder Grace are sure to bring comfort and inspiration to many.

This powerful book based on the traveling photographic exhibition of the same name features eighty personal portraits of African American elders and their thoughts about the experience of aging.

Through the lens of his camera, Chester Higgins Jr. looks at eighty thriving African American men and women who are aging with energy, wit, and grace. Alongside each portrait are comments from the subjects that express a collective wisdom about life and aging. The real-life inspiring models in Elder Grace are sure to bring comfort and inspiration to many.

• Elder Grace will be a source of inspiration for grandparents, children, grandchildren, African Americans and anyone thinking about issues of aging.

Recent population estimates indicate that there are more elderly people living longer than even before.

Title: ELDER GRACE: The Nobility of Aging
Author: Chester Higgins Jr.
Foreword by Maya Angelou
Pub Date: October 1, 2000
Hardcover; 128 pages, 80 duo tone photographs

About the Author

Chester Higgins Jr., is the author of the photo collections Black Woman, Drums of Life, Some Time Ago, and his latest book, Feeling the Spirit: Searching the World for the People of Africa. A comprehensive look at the African Diaspora, published by

He has been a staff photographer for The New York Times since 1975; his photographs have appeared in ArtNews, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Look, Life, Newsweek, Fortune, Ebony, Essence, Black Enterprise, GEO, and Archaeology. His work is the topic of the PBS film "An American Photographer: Chester Higgins Jr.," and has aired on CBS: "Sunday Morning News," PBS: "The NewsHour," ABC: "Like It Is," and "Freedom Forum."

His one-man exhibitions have appeared at the International Center of Photography, The Smithsonian Institution, The Museum of African Art, The Museum of Photographic Arts, The Schomburg Center, The Newark Museum, National Civil Rights Museum and The Field Museum of Natural History.He is the recipient of grants from The Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the International Center of Photography, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation (ICP).